Category: Argentina

Argentina’s Banco Río de la Plata is planning to issue up to $145 million worth (450 million pesos) of local-currency bonds. The offering is part of a $250 million debt program launched in 2003. The three-year bonds will pay a fixed interest rate. No further details were given.

Argentina’s Banco de Galicia has postponed its capital raising plans for the third time, the Bank reported in a filing to the local stock exchange. The Bank was hoping to raise $32.2 million (100 million pesos) from the sale of 100 million class B shares at a nominal value of 1 pesos each.

Argentina is planning to issue a new 10-year bond as early as next month, according to a report in local daily La Nación. The new issuance will also be accompanied by a series of swaps to extend the maturity of the sovereign’s debt profile, said the paper. The new bond is likely to pay around 8% of annual interest in line with the yield on the sovereign’s dollar-denominated Bonar VII.

Roberto Lavagna, former Argentine economy minister and presidential hopeful, has weighed into the controversial debate surrounding Argentina’s official inflation figures, reports Bloomberg. Lavagna claims the rates are higher than those published by the government, putting February’s annual inflation close to 15% instead of the 9.6% announced by the government. Lavagna, who oversaw Argentina’s economic recovery after its 2001/2 meltdown, criticized the government’s change in methodology to calculate inflation, as well as its heterodox policies of price controls.

Bolivia has joined Venezuela and Argentina in their efforts to establish the much-touted Banco del Sur. The Bank will reportedly be up and running by the end of June, according to statements made earlier this year by Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez. The bank will fund infrastructure and development projects in the region and aims to replace lending from other multilaterals. It will start operations with $1 billion of capital and will be based in Caracas and Buenos Aires.

The head of Argentina’s national statistics bureau INDEC has stepped down due to ill health, report local media. Lélio Mármora’s interim replacement is his deputy Mario Krieger. Daily newspaper Clarín suggested the resignation was a direct result of Mármora’s rejection of changes in methodology and personnel in the Bureau imposed by the government. Workers at INDEC have been protesting since January after the replacement of Graciela Bevacqua, the head of the consumer price index team, who was substituted by government-appointed Beatriz Paglieri.

Endesa Chile has paid $50 million to CMS Generation of the US for its 25% stake in energy company Hidroinvest, which has a controlling stake in Argentine electricity plant El Chocón. The acquisition gives Endesa a 64.7% holding in the hydroelectric facility, which is located in the province of Neuquén. Prior to the purchase of the shares, Endesa held a 47.4% share in the plant.

Argentina has released its inflation figures for February, prompting more concerns over reported changes in the data calculation methodology being used by the government. Figures released by INDEC, the national statistics bureau, which has been at the center of the data doubts row, stated that February’s prices rose by just 0.3%, compared with 1.1% in January, taking annual inflation down to 9.6%. Workers groups continue to contend that January’s real inflation figure was 1.9%. The rate of inflation published by INDEC was used to calculate wage increases for workers but unions are now disputing its use and questioning the credibility of the figures being produced.

The latest joint bond offering by Argentina and Venezuela – the so-called Bono del Sur II – has attracted demand of almost 10 times the $1.5 billion on offer, according to market sources. The huge demand for the paper – which allows investors to buy the packaged bond and then resell the Argentine paper element to obtain dollars – reflects the massive appetite of local investors to acquire dollars at a rate lower than the black market. Venezuela’s stringent foreign exchange restrictions – in place since 2003 – and the huge excess of bolivars sloshing around the economy have created a huge demand for dollars. The jointly issued Bono del Sur comprises $750 million of Argentine dollar-denominated Boden 2015 paying 7.5% and $750 million of Venezuelan government TICCs, maturing in 2019, paying 5.25%.

Argentina’s Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires has announced it will settle all its outstanding debt with the Central Bank by March 2. The Bank says it will cancel the remaining $292 million (908.7 million pesos). Meanwhile, ratings agency Fitch said on Wednesday that it had affirmed the Bank’s Individual E and Support 5 ratings and simultaneously withdrawn them. Fitch said it would no longer provide ratings or analytical coverage of Banco de Galicia.